Sunndi
Encyclopedia
In the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting
for the Dungeons & Dragons
roleplaying game, Sunndi is a political state situated in the region of the Flanaess
. Sunndi was originally given a very brief description by Gary Gygax
in 1980's World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
. In 1999, a much expanded description was included in a new "reboot" of the Greyhawk campaign setting published by Wizards of the Coast
. This new edition describes Sunndi as a former province of the Great Kingdom
with a history of interracial tolerance that has only recently declared itself to be an independent kingdom. In the massively shared Living Greyhawk
campaign (2000–2008), Sunndi was a region assigned to Belgium
, Netherlands
, and Luxembourg
.
in the The World of Greyhawk folio (TSR 9025). In the campaign's start date of 576 CY, Sunndi's population was listed as 50,000+, and its ruler was identified simply as the Count of Sunndi.
An almost identical paragraph appeared in Gygax’s World of Greyhawk boxed set in 1983 (TSR 1015); however, the ruler was now identified by name as Count Hazendel, and the country’s population was more specifically given as 60,000.
Gygax left TSR in 1985, and TSR took the Greyhawk storyline in a new direction via a boxed set called From the Ashes (TSR 1064). The storyline was advanced to 585 CY, the year after the end of a continent-wide war that had taken place 582-584 CY. Sunndi had been overrun by the armies of Ivid the Undying during the Wars, but had managed to regain its independence. The overall departure of the Greyhawk campaign from Gygax's original setting to this darker vision of post-war Flanaess was not well-received by the public, and TSR stopped publishing Greyhawk material in 1993.
In 1996, Wizards of the Coast took over TSR, and in 1998 revived the moribund Greyhawk setting for their new Third Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The storyline was advanced to 590 CY, and now dealt with the new alliances and problems that had developed in the wake of the Greyhawk Wars. The description of Sunndi was expanded to include a short but comprehensive history; Sunndi had declared itself to be a fully independent kingdom, Count Hazendel was now Olvenking Hazendel, and the population was doubled to 125,000.
Using these resources, Sunndi in the most recent setting of Greyhawk can be described as follows.
, Trithereon
, Lydia
, the Oeridian agricultural gods, the elvish, dwarvish and gnomish pantheons, Ulaa
, Fortubo
, Jascar
, Norebo
and Boccob
.
Although this is an easily defended land, its defensive strength is also its weakness, since it has no easy trade outlet for its grain, gold, electrum and gems other than the narrow Highland Trail through the Hestmark Highlands to the port of Dullstrand
. And the Vast Swamp is both a blessing and a curse, for although it defends Sunndi's southern border, it is also home to disease, strange monsters and warlike bullywug
s that emerge from the fens every 15–20 years.
Given its subtropical location, Sunndi's climate is warm year-round, with plentiful rainfall in the autumn and winter, and humid heat during the spring and summer. Snow is a sure sign of magical evil afoot.
. One of the overkings subsequently made Sunndi a separate fief within the South Province, ruled by a Count who swore fealty to the Herzog (prince) of South Province. Since the Count was appointed by the Herzog, the post was usually granted to the Sunnd noble who promised to extract the most tribute from the county to send to the Herzog. The result was oppressive taxation and overfarming, as well as suppression of non-human races.
At the same time, bullywugs attacked from the Vast Swamp, pulling needed troops from the northern defences. Although the bullywug invasion was contained and the monsters driven back into the swamp, the South Province army took advantage of the divided Sunnd forces, and finally took the capital of Pitchfield in 583 CY. It seemed that the battle for Sunndi was over, for nothing now stood between the herzog and Sunndi's fertile lands. However, a newly re-dedicated Sunnd army under the hero Osson met the South Province army at the Battle of Rieuwood and was triumphant, although an attempt by Osson to follow the herzog's troops across the Thelly River into South Province failed and the Sunnd army was forced to retreat back to Sunndi.
In 590 CY (the year of the current campaign setting), eighteen scions from both human and nonhuman noble houses have been appointed to a Congress of Lords to advise the olvenking. Sunndi had been subdivided into eighteen counties, and each lord of the Congress has been appointed count of one of these new regions.
Increased raids by monsters from the Vast Swamp remind the Sunnd government of the historic cycle of bullywug invasions, and Hazendel has ordered the construction of new forts along the edge of the swamp against an expected invasion within the next few years. Investigation suggested that followers of Wastri
, upset by the good relations between humans and nonhumans in Sunndi, and especially repelled by the thought of an elf on the throne, may be behind the new round of attacks.
campaign that ran from 2001 to 2008, Sunndi was assigned to the countries of Belgium
, Netherlands
, and Luxembourg
, and placed within the Splintered Suns metaregion.
As outlined above, the previously published history of Sunndi was complete up to 590 CY, but there was very little material about the social, geographical, political and religious fabric of Sunndi.
In the months before the official launch of the campaign in 2000, the first Sunndi Triad (three volunteer campaign administrators) and a volunteer design team worked to flesh out a proposed social background and geographical setting for Sunndi. This included a more complete description of deities worshipped in Sunndi, the legal system of the new kingdom, names and rulers of the eighteen counties, notable personalities of the kingdom, and other minutae of life in Sunndi. In all, the Sunndi Triad published 41 adventures for their region.
, so events that transpired during the campaign do not affect the official timeline of Greyhawk, and will vary substantially from the histories of other concurrent Greyhawk home campaigns):
592 CY
Olvenking Hazendel asserted his authority over the old Aerdy noble houses that were refusing to break their ties with the Great Kingdom.
593 CY
Raids on Sunndi from denizens of the Vast Swamp rapidly increased, although the forts being built along the southern border were not yet completed. This threat seemed to be driven by followers of Wastri
594 CY
A priest of Nerull had evil designs on the Silent Valley.
The long-dreaded invasion of bullywugs from the Vast Swamp began, forcing war upon Sunndi.
595 CY
Although the evil Priest of Nerull in the Silent Valley had been killed, his ghost continued to haunt the area until it was destroyed.
The war against the Wastrian bullywugs did not go well, and gradually, the Sunnd army was pushed back.
596 CY
Even as the Wastrians continued to press north, evil attacked from several new directions: A madness of some sort destroyed several hitherto peaceful villages; and Hextorites plot against both Wastrians and Sunndi.
An old tale that the golden treasure of Pitchfield's temple of Pelor, taken by an orc raiding party centuries ago and allegedly hidden in the Vast Swamp, proved to be false.
597 CY
While Wastrian forces pushed Sunnd troops back to their capital of Pitchfield, a strong raiding party of orcs and giants attacked from the north.
598 CY
The force responsible for the villages mysteriously destroyed in 596 was discovered to be a demon hidden within a cursed staff. In a final effort last-ditch effort, the Wastrians and their allies were finally driven back into the Vast Swamp, at least for another generation, but the formerly fertile country of Sunndi lay in ruins.
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
for the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
roleplaying game, Sunndi is a political state situated in the region of the Flanaess
Flanaess
The Flanaess is the eastern part of the continent of Oerik, one of the four continents of the fictional world of Oerth in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The Flanaess has been the setting of dozens of adventures published between the 1970s...
. Sunndi was originally given a very brief description by Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
in 1980's World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting and the World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting are two closely related publications from TSR, Inc. that detail the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...
. In 1999, a much expanded description was included in a new "reboot" of the Greyhawk campaign setting published by Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
. This new edition describes Sunndi as a former province of the Great Kingdom
Great Kingdom
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Great Kingdom, or the Great Kingdom of Aerdy, refers to an empire that varied in size at various points in its history.-History:...
with a history of interracial tolerance that has only recently declared itself to be an independent kingdom. In the massively shared Living Greyhawk
Living Greyhawk
Living Greyhawk was a massively shared Dungeons and Dragons living campaign administered by RPGA that ran from 2000 to 2008. The campaign setting and storyline were based on Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk setting, and used the Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition rules...
campaign (2000–2008), Sunndi was a region assigned to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
.
Developmental history
In 1980, a brief paragraph about the County of Sunndi was published by Gary GygaxGary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
in the The World of Greyhawk folio (TSR 9025). In the campaign's start date of 576 CY, Sunndi's population was listed as 50,000+, and its ruler was identified simply as the Count of Sunndi.
An almost identical paragraph appeared in Gygax’s World of Greyhawk boxed set in 1983 (TSR 1015); however, the ruler was now identified by name as Count Hazendel, and the country’s population was more specifically given as 60,000.
Gygax left TSR in 1985, and TSR took the Greyhawk storyline in a new direction via a boxed set called From the Ashes (TSR 1064). The storyline was advanced to 585 CY, the year after the end of a continent-wide war that had taken place 582-584 CY. Sunndi had been overrun by the armies of Ivid the Undying during the Wars, but had managed to regain its independence. The overall departure of the Greyhawk campaign from Gygax's original setting to this darker vision of post-war Flanaess was not well-received by the public, and TSR stopped publishing Greyhawk material in 1993.
In 1996, Wizards of the Coast took over TSR, and in 1998 revived the moribund Greyhawk setting for their new Third Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The storyline was advanced to 590 CY, and now dealt with the new alliances and problems that had developed in the wake of the Greyhawk Wars. The description of Sunndi was expanded to include a short but comprehensive history; Sunndi had declared itself to be a fully independent kingdom, Count Hazendel was now Olvenking Hazendel, and the population was doubled to 125,000.
Using these resources, Sunndi in the most recent setting of Greyhawk can be described as follows.
People
Sunndi's population numbers about 125,000, of which 79% are human of Oeridi and Suolise extraction, 9% are gray elves, 5% are mountain and hill dwarves, 3% are gnomes, 2% are halflings, 1% are half-elves, and 1% are other races. These races live in harmony and mutual self-defence.Religion
No single religion dominates this region, but significant deities worshipped include PelorPelor
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Pelor is the god of the Sun, Light, Strength, and Healing. Pelor is also a prominent member of the third edition of the game's default pantheon, and is a popular choice among player character clerics because he...
, Trithereon
Trithereon
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Trithereon is the god of Individuality, Liberty, Retribution, and Self-Defense...
, Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
, the Oeridian agricultural gods, the elvish, dwarvish and gnomish pantheons, Ulaa
Ulaa
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Ulaa is the goddess of Hills, Mountains, and Gemstones...
, Fortubo
Fortubo
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Fortubo is the god of Stone, Metals, Mountains, and Guardianship. Originally a member of the Suel pantheon, Fortubo abandoned the Suloise upon discovering that the Suel were behind the creation of the derro...
, Jascar
Jascar
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Jascar is the Suel god of Hills and Mountains...
, Norebo
Norebo
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Norebo is the Suel god of Luck, Gambling, and Risks. His symbol is a pair of eight-sided dice.-Publication history:...
and Boccob
Boccob
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Boccob is the god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance, and foresight. He is known as the Uncaring, the Lord of All Magic, and the Archmage of the Deities...
.
Geography
Sunndi is a warm and fertile land in the southeast corner of the Flanaess, lying between the Rieuwood Forest and Glorioles Mountains to the north, the Hestmark Highlands to the east, the Pawluck River to the west and the Vast Swamp to the south.Although this is an easily defended land, its defensive strength is also its weakness, since it has no easy trade outlet for its grain, gold, electrum and gems other than the narrow Highland Trail through the Hestmark Highlands to the port of Dullstrand
Dullstrand
In the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, The Dullstrand is a region on the eastern coast of the Flanaess, mainly known for the many colourful smugglers, pirates, and fugitives that use its coast and ports as a refuge from authorities.Although...
. And the Vast Swamp is both a blessing and a curse, for although it defends Sunndi's southern border, it is also home to disease, strange monsters and warlike bullywug
Bullywug
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, the bullywug is a type of fictional monster for player characters to encounter. The bullywugs are portrayed as a violent race of marsh-dwelling frog-like humanoids. The bullywug was introduced in the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons...
s that emerge from the fens every 15–20 years.
Given its subtropical location, Sunndi's climate is warm year-round, with plentiful rainfall in the autumn and winter, and humid heat during the spring and summer. Snow is a sure sign of magical evil afoot.
Government
Sunndi is a feudal hereditary monarchy ruled by His Brilliant Majesty, Olvenking Hazendel I, Defender of Sunndi and Protector of the South. The country is divided into eighteen counties, each ruled by a count who sits on the advisory Congress of Lords. The capital city is Pitchfield.History
A thousand years ago, Suloise refugees fleeing from the ruin of the Twin Cataclysms entered the fertile lands south of the Rieuwood and befriended the indigenous gray elves. Later invasions by Oeridian raiders conquered the Suloise/elven alliance, but time was on Sunnndi's side and gradually the Oeridians were integrated.An oppressed county of South Province
After Aerdy conquered all Oeridian lands following the Battle of a Fortnight's Length in -110 CY, Sunndi was made a part of the South Province of the Great KingdomGreat Kingdom
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Great Kingdom, or the Great Kingdom of Aerdy, refers to an empire that varied in size at various points in its history.-History:...
. One of the overkings subsequently made Sunndi a separate fief within the South Province, ruled by a Count who swore fealty to the Herzog (prince) of South Province. Since the Count was appointed by the Herzog, the post was usually granted to the Sunnd noble who promised to extract the most tribute from the county to send to the Herzog. The result was oppressive taxation and overfarming, as well as suppression of non-human races.
Independence and membership in the Iron League
When the Iron League was formed by the Free City of Irongate, Idee, and Onnwal in 447 CY in opposition to the Great Kingdom, Sunndi rebelled against its masters, drove the herzog's soldiers out of Sunndi and joined the League in 455 CY. The gray elf Count Turentel Esparithen formed a government based on mutual respect for all peoples of Sunndi.South Province invades
The herzogs of South Provinces attempted to retake Sunndi several times over the next century without success. However in 577 CY, South Province received the backing it needed from the mad overking Ivid the Undying, and successfully invaded.At the same time, bullywugs attacked from the Vast Swamp, pulling needed troops from the northern defences. Although the bullywug invasion was contained and the monsters driven back into the swamp, the South Province army took advantage of the divided Sunnd forces, and finally took the capital of Pitchfield in 583 CY. It seemed that the battle for Sunndi was over, for nothing now stood between the herzog and Sunndi's fertile lands. However, a newly re-dedicated Sunnd army under the hero Osson met the South Province army at the Battle of Rieuwood and was triumphant, although an attempt by Osson to follow the herzog's troops across the Thelly River into South Province failed and the Sunnd army was forced to retreat back to Sunndi.
A new kingdom
Although Sunndi had regained its independence, the fall of Iron League members Idee and Onwaal to South Province in 586 CY reminded Sunndi how tenuous freedom could be. In 589 CY, Count Hazendel declared to be Sunndi a fully independent kingdom, and proclaimed that all old ties with the Great Kingdom were forever severed. Hazendel became Olvenking Hazendel the Defender. The few Aerdy-descended noble houses that remained in Sunndi were ordered to rename themselves and swear allegiance to the crown.In 590 CY (the year of the current campaign setting), eighteen scions from both human and nonhuman noble houses have been appointed to a Congress of Lords to advise the olvenking. Sunndi had been subdivided into eighteen counties, and each lord of the Congress has been appointed count of one of these new regions.
Increased raids by monsters from the Vast Swamp remind the Sunnd government of the historic cycle of bullywug invasions, and Hazendel has ordered the construction of new forts along the edge of the swamp against an expected invasion within the next few years. Investigation suggested that followers of Wastri
Wastri
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Wastri is the Suloise god of Amphibians, Bigotry, and Self-Deception...
, upset by the good relations between humans and nonhumans in Sunndi, and especially repelled by the thought of an elf on the throne, may be behind the new round of attacks.
Sunndi as a region of the Living Greyhawk campaign
In the Living GreyhawkLiving Greyhawk
Living Greyhawk was a massively shared Dungeons and Dragons living campaign administered by RPGA that ran from 2000 to 2008. The campaign setting and storyline were based on Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk setting, and used the Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition rules...
campaign that ran from 2001 to 2008, Sunndi was assigned to the countries of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, and placed within the Splintered Suns metaregion.
As outlined above, the previously published history of Sunndi was complete up to 590 CY, but there was very little material about the social, geographical, political and religious fabric of Sunndi.
In the months before the official launch of the campaign in 2000, the first Sunndi Triad (three volunteer campaign administrators) and a volunteer design team worked to flesh out a proposed social background and geographical setting for Sunndi. This included a more complete description of deities worshipped in Sunndi, the legal system of the new kingdom, names and rulers of the eighteen counties, notable personalities of the kingdom, and other minutae of life in Sunndi. In all, the Sunndi Triad published 41 adventures for their region.
Timeline of Sunndi during the Living Greyhawk Campaign
This is the history of Sunndi as outlined in the 41 adventures published during the Living Greyhawk campaign. (The Living Greyhawk campaign was considered unofficial by Wizards of the Coast and RPGARPGA
The RPGA , is part of the organized play arm of Wizards of the Coast that organizes and sanctions role-playing games worldwide, principally under the d20 system...
, so events that transpired during the campaign do not affect the official timeline of Greyhawk, and will vary substantially from the histories of other concurrent Greyhawk home campaigns):
592 CY
Olvenking Hazendel asserted his authority over the old Aerdy noble houses that were refusing to break their ties with the Great Kingdom.
593 CY
Raids on Sunndi from denizens of the Vast Swamp rapidly increased, although the forts being built along the southern border were not yet completed. This threat seemed to be driven by followers of Wastri
594 CY
A priest of Nerull had evil designs on the Silent Valley.
The long-dreaded invasion of bullywugs from the Vast Swamp began, forcing war upon Sunndi.
595 CY
Although the evil Priest of Nerull in the Silent Valley had been killed, his ghost continued to haunt the area until it was destroyed.
The war against the Wastrian bullywugs did not go well, and gradually, the Sunnd army was pushed back.
596 CY
Even as the Wastrians continued to press north, evil attacked from several new directions: A madness of some sort destroyed several hitherto peaceful villages; and Hextorites plot against both Wastrians and Sunndi.
An old tale that the golden treasure of Pitchfield's temple of Pelor, taken by an orc raiding party centuries ago and allegedly hidden in the Vast Swamp, proved to be false.
597 CY
While Wastrian forces pushed Sunnd troops back to their capital of Pitchfield, a strong raiding party of orcs and giants attacked from the north.
598 CY
The force responsible for the villages mysteriously destroyed in 596 was discovered to be a demon hidden within a cursed staff. In a final effort last-ditch effort, the Wastrians and their allies were finally driven back into the Vast Swamp, at least for another generation, but the formerly fertile country of Sunndi lay in ruins.